http://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2012-12-20T09:06:00ZWe get a lot of bad public relations pitches during a year, but these 12 speak for themselves. Enjoy, but please think carefully before paying for a FaceTime facelift.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/pr-gone-wild-2012-12-hall-of-shamers/240144612?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsIn the name of honest journalism (and, sure, an excuse to finally clean out our spam folders), we went looking for the most cringe-worthy press pitches of 2012 from our brethren in public relations and we found some gems. <P> Many of them are sexual in nature. Not sure what that's about, given that we are a technology publication. <P> Names have been withheld to protect the innocent -- or left in for maximum impact. <P> <strong>1. And Skype makes my ass look big.</strong> <P> "Robert K. Sigal, M.D., board-certified plastic surgeon in the Washington, D.C.-area plastic surgery practice The Austin-Weston Center for Cosmetic Surgery, is seeing firsthand technology's direct effect on the demand for plastic surgery. 'Patients come in with their iPhones and show me how they look on FaceTime,' says Dr. Sigal. 'The angle at which the phone is held, with the caller looking downward into the camera, really captures any heaviness, fullness and sagging of the face and neck. People say 'I never knew I looked like that! I need to do something!' I've started calling it the 'FaceTime Facelift' effect. And we've developed procedures to specifically address it." [Editor's note: A killjoy, even from the grave, Steve Jobs suggests holding the phone differently.] <P> <strong>2. In May, we'll host <em>soldiering</em> competitions at moonshine distilleries in Arkansas.</strong> <P> "On April 28, 2012 Boulder-based SparkFun Electronics, a provider of parts, knowledge and passion for electronics creation, will host its first annual SparkFun <em>Soldering</em> Competition. The competition, open to the public, will take place at Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids and Solids [Editor's note: a brewery] in Longmont, Colo." <P> <strong>3. Also, men who do the dishes don't have to cuddle afterwards.</strong> <P> "If you're working on any pieces about unexpected Father's Day Gifts or Best Gifts for Guys, I have a surprising addition: A Dyson Vacuum. Why would you ever give a dude a vacuum for Father's Day, you ask? Men who do more housework have more sex, according to a study in the Journal of Family issues, and Dyson's newest technology comes perfectly equipped for spaces small and large - unlike any other vacuum you've ever tried." <P> <strong>4. And while you're at it, will you please write something nice, too?</strong> <P> "New Technology Saves Homes and Business! The Flood Stops Here.... Please write an article on our new product!" [Editor's note: A pitch for the Wassaic DoorDam.] <P> <strong>5. You mixed your metaphor in my sexual innuendo. </strong> <P> [Editor's note: From a press release for the book <em>Stop Calling Him Honey... And Start Having Sex! How Changing Your Everyday Habits Will Make You Hot for Each Other All Over Again.</em>] <P> "I'm not sure if familiarity breeds contempt in marriage, but I'm sure it breeds boredom in the bedroom. If you and your partner are in a sexual rut, Davis and Arana will help dig you out by offering you concrete advice for rekindling the juiciness you felt when you first met. Their counter-intuitive yet effective suggestions will bring out the sexual siren in you and bring back passion to your relationship." <P> <strong>6. An iPad can also make your face look like it's sagging and heavy, but we happen to know where you can get a FaceTime Facelift.</strong> <P> [Editor's note: From Dr. Robert Oexman, Director of the Sleep to Live Institute.] <P> "The bright light of the iPad and other tablets spark alertness, inhibit melatonin production, and can even bring on a bout of insomnia. That's why medical experts warn against curling up with a tablet to read before bed &#8211; if you want a good night's sleep." <P> <strong>7. When we say "exclusive," we mean we're desperate for anyone to be interested. (Did we mention that men who attend have more sex?)</strong> <P> "I'd like to offer you an exclusive opportunity to experience the future of remote patient monitoring with a personal trial of the BodyGuardian RMS during the mHealth Summit, December 3-5, 2012. <P> Demonstration spots are limited, so reply to this email today to secure a time." <P> <strong>8. If you can't use the McAfee "ploy" -- a new PR strategy whereby you create an international manhunt for your company's founder -- try the next best thing.</strong> <P> "Bitdefender's founder didn't kill somebody like McAfee's might have, but the company is working on killing some of the top security threats of 2012; threats that will continue to have major impact 2013. Here are the most aggressive . . . ."</strong> <P> <strong>9. Sometimes I forget to take my ADD meds and I can't remember where I . . . did you just say spectrum allocation?</strong> <P> [Editor's note: From Vulcan Wireless.] <P> "In 2012, the University of Alabama men's basketball team received an unexpected boost from a student who used an unusual tactic aimed at the opposition. Known as "The Face," Jackson Blankenship attended Crimson Tide men's basketball games armed with an oversized cardboard cutout of his own face holding an alarmed expression designed for one purpose: to make opposing team players miss their shots. Having recently appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and in a video gone viral Blankenship is now infamous for his ability to distract. <P> This brings to mind the FCC's proceeding to determine whether to restore interoperability in the Lower 700 MHz band,...." <P> <strong>10. You thought the presidential election was all about fixing the economy and the Latino vote.</strong> <P> "I am the Public Relations Manager of SeekingArrangement.com, the world's largest Sugar Daddy dating website. Since this is the election year, we decided to conduct a poll, asking over 30,000 female voters on our website which of the two Presidential Candidates they would rather have as their Sugar Daddy, and why. <P> Even though Romney is by far much wealthier than Obama, Obama beat Romney by 3 to 1, winning the hearts of women in all swing states and most Republican strongholds. Women who chose Obama over Romney say he is more personable, trustworthy and sexy. While some may discount our poll results, it may hold clues as to what Romney must do to change his vanilla image in order to win over the hearts of minds of voters, and more specifically female voters, this November." <P> <strong>11. What could be more romantic for Red Sox fans? And if you don't like this idea, you should definitely try Cleveland.</strong> <P> [Editor's note: Sent to our Boston-based editor.] <P> "I am the Public Relations Manager for MissTravel.com, the fastest growing Travel Dating website that was recently featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, etc. I am writing to you today because we are releasing our "Top 20 US Romantic Destinations" study based on over 20,000 romance trips taken or planned by members of our website. <P> Most relevant to you is the fact that New York City is ranked Number 2 on the list of most popular US destinations to fall in love. So why is New York City ranked so high on the list of travel destinations for romance seekers all over the world? Some of the activities our members have done while they were traveling in New York City include taking in a Yankees game, having a first kiss on top of the Empire State Building and eating at The Central Park Boathouse." <P> <strong>12. And we only read Playboy for the articles.</strong> <P> [Editor's Note: Journalists themselves sometimes make, um, unusual pitches. This came from an editor in a list of story pitches.] <P> "A story about adult clubs and their deployment of IT - especially their adoption of social media marketing techniques and the challenges/successes they see." <P> <i>For the 16th consecutive year, InformationWeek is conducting its U.S. IT Salary Survey. To date, more than 200,000 IT professionals have participated in this survey. Take our <a href="http://informationweek.2013ITSalarySurvey.sgizmo.com/s3/?iwid=pl">InformationWeek 2013 U.S. IT Salary Survey</a> now, and be eligible to win some great prizes. Survey ends Jan. 18. </i>2012-12-12T10:50:00ZSugarSync CEO describes new features, takes questions on cloud security in the latest episode of <em>InformationWeek</em> Valley View.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/infrastructure/sugarsync-adds-search-collaboration-to-c/240144279?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsThe personal cloud space is pretty crowded, with platform players (Microsoft, Apple, Google) in the mix, as well as third parties like DropBox and Box. SugarSync has also been a standout, if sometimes forgotten, player, and with version 2.0 the company hopes to continue apace. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1998777570001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1998777570001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> SugarSync is slightly different from other services in that users target documents or folders, and those are kept in sync in SugarSync's cloud. The convenience of setting it once is one of the product's core benefits, and as with other cloud storage technology, SugarSync runs on a variety of platforms, including most mobile offerings. <P> SugarSync CEO Laura Yecies recently joined us on Valley View, our live, monthly Web TV program, and stuffed a great deal of information about version 2.0 into her two-minute elevator pitch. That includes the addition of search, a new client interface and the ability to collaborate, especially in the enterprise. Yecies faced some pretty tough questions from our judges, especially around security, but generally they liked the product too. You can watch all of this in the video above.2012-12-12T10:04:00ZClearStory CEO discusses how "converged analysis" lets users analyze data from internal and external sources, in latest episode of <em>InformationWeek</em> Valley View.http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/clearstory-puts-big-data-into-business-users-hands/240144264?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsThere seems to be an unwieldy number of technological approaches to getting at big data, but one of the big struggles today is getting that data into the hands of business users. ClearStory Data attempts to solve that problem by analyzing internal and external data in a scalable way, while also providing a simple, usable window into that data without lots of querying complexity. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1998726015001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1998726015001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> As ClearStory CEO and founder Sharmila Mulligan pointed out on a recent episode of <em>InformationWeek</em>'s Valley View (a live, monthly Web TV program), there are 7,000 open data APIs, from sources like Netflix and Facebook, and other premium data sets. ClearStory, she said, is driving toward a converged analysis. <P> It's difficult to get a complex idea across in two minutes, but that's what we asked Mulligan to do as part of her elevator pitch. You can watch that, as well as get the reaction of our judges, in the video above.2012-12-12T09:35:00ZWhy poll just one data scientist when you can tap the expertise of 65,000? See how Kaggle aims to make that easier in the latest episode of Valley View.http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/kaggle-crowdsources-the-data-scientist-problem/240144262?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsMuch has been written about the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/information-management/meet-the-elusive-data-scientist/240142235">elusive data scientist</a>, about how <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/wanted-qualified-data-scientists-people/240115300">difficult finding highly skilled data scientists</a> has become. Many organizations are taking creative approaches, like <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/hire-a-data-science-team-not-a-data-sci/240142966">creating data science teams</a>. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1998552981001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1998552981001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> However, Kaggle has an even more creative approach: Crowdsource the problem to some 65,000 data scientists, using open (or closed) data-mining competitions. Kaggle has hosted 150 such competitions, some on behalf of customers like Allstate Insurance (conducted to help in predicting insurance claims), according to Kaggle's CEO Anthony Goldbloom, who was a recent guest on <em>InformationWeek</em>'s Valley View (a live, monthly Web TV show). <P> You can watch Goldbloom's elevator pitch, and see what our judges thought in the video above.2012-12-10T10:49:00ZAfter getting to know Bill Schlough, <em>InformationWeek</em>'s L.A. baseball diehard Fritz Nelson has just one question: Why isn't this guy with the Dodgers?http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/9-inspiring-innings-with-sf-giants-cio-b/240144103?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsIf writing about Bill Schlough, CIO of the San Francisco Giants and InformationWeek's 2012 Chief of The Year, were a nine-inning baseball game, it might look a little something like this. <P> <strong>Pre-game warm-up:</strong> <P> Earlier this year one of our reporters and our video crew joined Schlough at a Giants home game, to learn how the organization creates a superior fan experience using technology. <P> Schlough spent all day with our editorial team, taking them down to the field, arranging interviews with players Angel Pagan and Brandon Crawford, Giants CEO Larry Baer and manager Bruce Bochy. <P> That game turned out to be Matt Cain's historic no hitter, and as it was developing Schlough took the editors down to the field to be in the moment, and then celebrated with them after. <P> I would come to learn that here, as with most everything Schlough does, he is gracious, thorough, dependable and completely present. I would come to learn that Schlough is a winner in his job, but also in life. <P> (You can <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/video/1724150892001"> watch that video report</a> here.) <P> <strong>Inning 1:</strong> The Giants are playing the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. The Giants are ahead in the series 2 games to 0, and they're in Detroit for game 3. Hoping to see how accessible Schlough will be so that I can tell him we've selected him as our CIO of the year, I send him a simple hello email, congratulating him and the team on their World Series run. <P> <strong>[ Read the full story on Schlough's innovative work: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/san-francisco-giants-bill-schlough-it-ch/240144065">San Francisco Giants' Bill Schlough: InformationWeek IT Chief Of The Year</a>. ]</strong> <P> He replies almost immediately. He's in Detroit. He accepts my congratulations. He says something playfully snotty about my Los Angeles Dodgers and sends me some <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-plaschke-giants-20121026,0,2185694.column">reading material</a>. I decide to wait until the World Series is over to tell him about our selecting him as Chief of the Year. <P> <strong>Inning 2:</strong> I'm warming him up. The Giants have just swept the Tigers, and I congratulate him again, as much as it pains me. He replies: "It's just a bummer you didn't do another hatchet job on us this year so that you could issue another retraction." He's referring to <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/telecom/voip/dear-sf-giants-cio-im-sorry/228200051">this hatchet job and retraction</a>. <P> He's really going to make this difficult, isn't he? <P> <strong>Inning 3:</strong> Schlough is genuinely excited when I tell him the Chief of the Year news, then skeptical or cautious. His response: "Wow! First a World Series Championship, then a parade, now this? I'm kinda speechless and wondering if there is a catch. Like you need me to appear in all photos wearing Dodger gear." <P> Schlough jumps over my highest hurdles. He puts me in touch with everyone I ask for to learn more about him, including the CEO of the Giants (Baer), the CFO (John Yee), the VP of baseball operations (Bobby Evans), his three direct reports and several line of business heads. He even suggests I talk with the top IT execs of the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers (what?) and the Dallas Cowboys, as well as the CTO of Major League Baseball and the CEO of baseball's Advanced Media unit. He contacts all of them in advance. Everyone agrees to talk with me. Some of the meetings Schlough sets up for me personally. <P> <strong>Inning 4:</strong> It's a typical overcast day in San Francisco when I arrive at AT&T Park, and it's quiet. It's the off-season. Inside the gate are gorgeous championship coats just sitting in a box. I could easily take one, but what would I use to burn it? <P> Schlough sets me up in a conference room: home base (plate?) for the day. We talk in his office, which is cluttered but impeccably organized. I ask for an org chart, and he reaches to get it, almost without looking. <P> For lunch, we get salads next door at an eatery. He nods or says hello to at least 10 random people. He seems to know everyone. He takes me onto the field (yes, the one where the Giants play), and we eat our lunches there. Above the blaring music, as if there were a game and it was between innings, we talk about raising children and about sports and leadership, and about his volunteer efforts away from work, like with Junior Achievement. <P> And he makes it all sound easy. And I get the sense that for him, it probably is. <P> <strong>Inning 5:</strong> It becomes apparent that there's something special brewing for later in the day. He won't tell me what it is. <P> I meet Schlough's staff: Dan Quill, who heads up application development; Dave Woolley, who's in charge of strategic IT initiatives; and Ken Logan, senior IT director. <P> I do my best to poke around at the edges, trying to get them to give me some dirt on Schlough, but they're having none of it. Woolley: Schlough is "a CIO, a VP, but he's the type of guy who leads by example. He'll be right there when we have to clean out a closet . . . . Schlough is superman. He'll do whatever it takes to help the team." <P> Wait, does this count? "He doesn't eat. He doesn't sleep. I think he might be an alien," Woolley says. Maybe he meant that in a positive way. <P> And here's Quill, on the IT team's early morning travel habits: "If you leave after 6 a.m., it's like he's broken a rule or something." <P> <strong>Inning 6:</strong> Now we go down to the field. Schlough has gathered the entire IT team. A man appears, walking almost like a guard at Buckingham Palace. He's wearing white gloves, and in his arms, under a Tiffany-blue cloth, is some sort of large structure. It's the Commissioner's Trophy. <P> When the Giants won the World Series two years ago (after decades of futile efforts, while the Dodgers busily collected a cool half dozen), that trophy was carefully guarded. Now the entire IT team gets a picture with it. They even let me hold it -- such agony, for this Dodgers fan. I swore I overheard Schlough tell Mr. White Glove to disinfect it afterward. <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1354/fritz_nelson_trophy_4.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="Fritz Nelson with World Series Trophy" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /><br /></center></p> <P> <strong>Inning 7:</strong> I talk with other people about Schlough. I must have talked with nearly every Giants employee and everyone associated with Major League Baseball. They all give me some slightly different version of the same thing: how Schlough is a leader, how he could be CIO of nearly any organization, how he is so well respected and liked, how effective he is. (Why isn't he with the Dodgers?!) <P> Jason Pearl, who heads up sponsorship marketing: "Bill pushes limits. He doesn't see roadblocks, he sees opportunity." <P> CEO Baer: "He's a highly versatile player. He has a breadth of understanding of baseball and the sports industry that goes beyond the sports technology. . . . [he's] made a huge difference in the organization." <P> <strong>Inning 8:</strong> There are more people and more stories about Schlough. Even the Dodgers CIO, Ralph Esquibel: "He tends to be one of the most outspoken individuals among CIOs in baseball. He's very open, very straightforward, very honest." <P> Evans, the baseball operations VP, says that Schlough demands high performance and gets the most out of people, but that he also understands the big picture. Quill calls Schlough progressive, different and someone who lets his team members perform without interference. Woolley says Schlough's goal-setting keeps the team focused. Logan says Schlough is organized, structured and communicates, and the team is well aware of what they're working toward. <P> Linda McCracken, president of Junior Achievement for Northern California: "In addition to taking a genuine interest in our students' goals, Bill takes time to be a role model and speak to students about his career choice, how he has worked to expand technology in his job, to answer career questions, and to even make tickets available to students so they might experience the excitement of a professional sports game." <P> And then there's Sue Peterson, who heads up the Giants Community Enrichment program: "He's both a personal and professional champion of the Giants community fund . . . Bill goes a step beyond just what we ask . . . . he gives his personal time . . . . He has helped us with personal donations. He motivates his staff, his friends. He rallies his department to give time." And so on. <P> <strong>Inning 9:</strong> Would it come as a surprise that Schlough graduated from Duke University and has an MBA from Wharton? That he worked at EDS and Booz-Allen? That he is a board member of the Bay Area Sports Olympic Committee, where he played an instrumental role in getting San Francisco into contention to host the Summer Olympics in 2012 and 2016? How about that he's excited about trying again for 2024? His license plate, BASOC CEO Anne Cribbs tells me, reads: "SF20xx?" <P> Bill Schlough is never done accomplishing things. <P> The Giants have won two World Series in three years, and they sell out every game. What else is there to achieve? The thought doesn't even register with him. There's always more to do, and if it's not on the baseball field, it's with merchandising opportunities or new club venues like <a href=" http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Giants-Mission-Rock-plan-is-in-city-s-ballpark-3457427.php">Mission Rock</a>, the community gathering center the Giants plan to open near the stadium. <P> This will surprise you: Schlough was the interim CEO of the minor league San Jose Giants, and is now the team's chairman. Not bad for an ex-Unix administrator. <P> <strong>Extra Innings:</strong> Schlough is one of those people who thinks in things like "the three p's," as in people, process and passion. His team has a mission statement that it wrote together. It consists of three, color-coded one-sentence steps. <P> He urges me, for our Chief of the Year piece, to use photos of his team, not him. <P> I'm finishing my story on Schlough, and I need a few fun facts. He's at the winter baseball meetings, where the Giants signed the oxymoronically named Angel Pagan as well as Marco Scutaro. Somewhere past midnight he sends me the information he has gathered. <P> And then he adds that he said hello to Tommy Lasorda for me. <P> That is Bill Schlough. <P> He once brought me a Brian Wilson bobblehead doll and led a crowd in a chant of "Dodgers suck." And I liked it. <P> I can't stand the Giants. And I hate Duke. But it's impossible to not like Bill Schlough.2012-12-10T08:00:00ZThe Giants' CIO and his team are innovating in areas such as analytics-based scouting and in-stadium wireless, keeping the World Series champions ahead of the game. http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/san-francisco-giants-bill-schlough-infor/240144065?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsEvery member of the San Francisco Giants IT department has a 2010 World Series ring, and one day during the 2013 season they'll also get their 2012 World Series rings.</p> <P> Buster Posey, the National League's Most Valuable Player, Pablo Sandoval, the World Series MVP, and 23 other players were on the field, but Ken Logan, senior IT director, Dave Woolley, director of strategic IT initiatives, Dan Quill, director of application development, and eight other IT all stars also made the Giants' Western Division championship, playoff run and final sweep of the Detroit Tigers possible.</p> <P> This notion may seem over the top, but it is what they believe, and they can draw the chalk lines from technology initiatives to Commissioner's Trophies, from dynamic ticket pricing to the Digital Dugout to a World Series victory, like Tinker to Evers to Chance.</p> <P> That's the magic of Bill Schlough, the CIO of the San Francisco Giants and <i>InformationWeek</i>'s 2012 Chief of the Year: He believes.</p> <P> <strong>The Player</strong> <P> Schlough greets me dressed like a banker, suited up for a short trip to HP Pavilion for the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame induction reception. He's chairman of the San Jose Giants, a Class A minor league team where he served as interim CEO from August 2011 through January 2012, before hiring his successor.</p> <P> Schlough isn't just a believer. He's a doer, a versatile executive who meets regularly with department heads such as baseball operations VP Bobby Evans and sponsorship/business development VP Jason Pearl, as well as with sponsors he insists on calling partners. He often speaks at their customer conferences.</p> <P> Schlough has been the CIO of the Giants for 14 years, but it seems unimaginable that a former Unix admin could run a baseball team. Giants CEO Larry Baer says Schlough was chosen to run the San Jose team because of his versatility. "He has a breadth of understanding of baseball and the sports industry that goes beyond sports technology," he says. To Baer's credit, he thinks employees with high potential need new challenges. "We don't pigeonhole people," he says.</p> <P> Adds baseball operations VP Evans: "He has the desire to grow. He doesn't get satisfied with where he's at. He's not afraid to take chances to achieve big things."</p> <P> <strong>The Innovator</strong> <P> In a business where all that matters is winning, what has Schlough, his IT organization and the Giants actually accomplished? Here are some highlights.</p> <P> <b>&#187 Dynamic ticket pricing:</b> There's no better, or more dangerous, intersection between a team and its customer than ticketing, which usually begins online and ends at a turnstile. And while it's difficult to pick out a single IT innovation among so many, the Giants were a pioneer in this area. In 2000, when AT&T Park opened, the Giants' ticketing team, working with Schlough and the IT team, rolled out dynamic ticket pricing, where competitive forces drive the cost of attending a ballgame.</p> <P> If a game is part of a crucial series or against an in-division rival, or the pitching matchup is especially compelling, or the game is simply selling out fast for whatever reason, ticket prices rise -- thanks to software from 5-year-old vendor <a href="http://www.qcue.net/" target="_blank">Qcue</a>. Conversely, prices fall if the game isn't a big draw.</p> <P> Schlough openly admits the Giants borrowed the dynamic pricing idea from the airline industry. The organization won't directly correlate revenue gains to the ticket pricing effort, but it's worth noting that the team's ticket sales have risen 7% to 8% over the past two years, an increase that also lifts concession and parking sales. The Giants have sold out 100% of their home games since Oct. 1, 2010, the second longest such streak in Major League Baseball (behind the Boston Red Sox). The Giants' paid attendance in 2012 came to 3.3 million. </p> <P> Meantime, the team has increased season ticket sales from 21,000 in 2010 to 28,000 in 2011 and 29,000 in 2012. Knowing that season ticket holders don't normally attend every game, the Giants created a secondary online ticket market, called Double Play Ticket Window, in 2000, before StubHub existed. Working with a now-defunct SAP-Intel joint venture called Pandesic, the Giants invented a way to activate and deactivate the bar codes on tickets, making exchanges simple and safe. After Pandesic went bust in 2000, the Giants built the platform again in partnership with Tickets.com, which was subsequently acquired by MLB Advanced Media, which now licenses the technology to StubHub. While the Giants still make a small profit from Double Play, Schlough considers it a fan service rather than a business venture.</p> <P><b>&#187 One giant Wi-Fi hotspot:</b> The Giants have also become the bellwether for enabling a digital fan experience at the ballpark, and a lightning rod for criticism. Baseball purists don't cotton to dancing mascots, eardrum-bursting music and other family-friendly entertainment, and they can't fathom why fans need to use laptops and tablets at a baseball game. But Giants fans live and breathe the fumes of Silicon Valley. Business pros pound out emails between innings; other fans update their social networks and check scores and video highlights from around the league.</p> <P> When the Giants opened AT&T (formerly Pacific Bell) Park in 2000, mobile was in its relative infancy and modern social networking didn't exist. As early as 2004, Schlough sculpted a wireless experience for fans, even if only a handful of them were on the network. But on opening day of 2008, several months after the advent of the iPhone, the ballpark's network was saturated.</p> <P> Luckily, the Giants had a partner with both the resources and the motivation to help: AT&T. Terry Stenzel, an AT&T VP, won't forget his first phone call from Schlough. "I knew I was in trouble," he says, "but I didn't feel like it." That is, Schlough made Stenzel feel like a partner in solving the problem. </p> <P> To be clear, this wasn't just about fans being able to access Facebook. Schlough was concerned about employees being able to reach one another, a matter of fan safety. It took almost the entire 2008 season for Schlough and AT&T to build up the wireless infrastructure, and even then, Stenzel says, the problems didn't go away as demand continued to soar. "Every year, it's almost a rip and replace," Giants IT director Logan says.</p> <P> The wireless network extends from the seats to the concession stands and even outside the stadium. After all, Stenzel notes, the "fan experience starts in the parking lot." From Game 1 of the 2010 World Series through the 2012 season, the Giants and AT&T boosted network capacity to handle an almost eightfold increase in traffic, from 55 GB to 433 GB.</p> <P> Quill, the Giants' app dev director, remembers when fans started streaming the games in the ballpark, putting even more stress on the network. The Giants worked with MLB's Advanced Media group to arrive at the ability to cache some of that video locally to relieve some of the traffic pressure.</p> <P> Maps is one of the most used applications at the park, because fans like to connect with friends and family after a game, Stenzel says. Surprisingly, fans also stream a lot of music at games. While 40% of all Web activity at games is just browsing, he says that for the first time ever at a sporting event, uploads have surpassed downloads. </p> <P> Fans want to associate themselves with being at a World Series or other big game, and there's plenty to associate themselves with, like celebrity national anthems and fly-by military exercises. It's enough to make a purist want to stay home. But then again, this is precisely what Schlough's team fights. As he puts it: "Our biggest competition is the couch."</p> <P> <b>&#187 The "big rig":</b> There are several ways to look at what <i>The Los Angeles Times</i> called "<a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/02/sports/la-sp-all-star-balloting-20120703" target="_blank">baseball's big rig</a>," a reference to the clever method Schlough and his team employed to help deliver a few Giants players to last season's All-Star game. <P> Online fan voting is theoretically limited to 25 times per person, and the biggest baseball markets have always had the advantage. In 2012, MLB allowed mobile balloting for the first time. "What other park in the world has the infrastructure to be able to tell our fans to pull out their mobile devices and vote right now," Schlough says. And that's what the Giants did, starting with a big series with the Los Angeles Dodgers a week before the voting period closed. <P> The Giants built a voting command center, via kiosks located around the park, and they encouraged mobile voting during games over the high-definition scoreboard. Vote often, the Giants told fans. (Major League Baseball has a rich tradition of cities stuffing the All-Star ballot box. The <i>Cincinnati Enquirer</i> famously started a campaign in 1957 in which it sent prefilled ballots to bars throughout Cincinnati. After the Reds monopolized the All-Star roster, MLB commissioner Ford Frick ended fan balloting -- it returned 20 years later.)</p> <P> Schlough is unapologetic. Indeed, he's gleeful that players such as outfielder Melky Cabrera (No. 4 in the voting a week earlier -- this was a month before he was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for steroids) and third baseman Sandoval (whose stats at the time paled in comparison to those of the Mets' David Wright) were voted All-Star game starters. Such selections build player and team morale, he rationalizes. So what if a little technology greased the skids?</p> <P> Evans, the Giants' VP of baseball operations and a 20-year team veteran, is a little more cautious. He doesn't want anyone, especially the All-Star players, to think they didn't earn their votes. "The players who got in deserved it," he says, noting that Cabrera was leading the league in batting average at the time (and was named the All-Star game's MVP); Sandoval eventually was the World Series MVP; and the third Giant voted an All-Star starter, Posey, ended up earning the league's MVP. </p><b>&#187 Big data:</b> Baseball, more than any other sport, is a game of statistics, one put on steroids (sorry, Melky) by the wide embrace of "sabermetrics" of <i>Moneyball</i> fame. While teams evaluate factors such as player performance and optimal positioning on the field by analyzing thousands of slivers of data, MLB Advanced Media (BAM) is beginning to let a handful of teams -- the Giants among them -- take the concept further with <a href="http://www.sportvision.com/baseball/fieldfx" target="_blank">Sportvision's Fieldf/x</a>, a video system that helps teams analyze player reaction times, or what Evans calls biomechanics.</p> <P> "You're going to be able to get an amazing matrix on speed and response time," says app dev director Quill, adding that Fieldf/x "will revolutionize how defense is analyzed," like how fast an outfielder comes in for a ball, moves laterally or reacts to line drives. "In some cases, it's just making the data more accurate, and in other cases it's giving us information that just didn't exist before."</p> <P> While BAM CEO Bob Bowman is careful to note that MLB plays no team favorites, he says Schlough and his organization have two essential qualities when it comes to digital media: ideas and execution. "They always say yes," he says.</p> <P> Fieldf/x generates a million records per game. Schlough does the math for me: 30 frames per second, tracking nine defensive players, the home plate umpire, a batter and the ball, multiplied by the amount of time a game takes (about 30 minutes of action). Quill says that when teams accumulate three years' worth of data -- enough to give them a high level of confidence in that data -- we'll be talking about 5 billion records. As Quill and Schlough like to point out, 5 billion records is on par with the amount of data a typical bank deals with. Indeed, when we met last month Schlough was due to meet with the head of a large bank's data analytics operations, at the bank's request.</p> <P> Mix into that data pool the stats every team tracks, as well as the information teams are starting to collect about fans, including social media activity and ticket purchasing/sales patterns, and we're talking about a big data (and storage) problem. It's the IT organization's biggest challenge right now, Quill says.</p> <P> MLB's Bowman adds that the league's big data, which his organization centralizes and manages, requires teams to be "ready to move not within hours, but maybe within minutes and preferably in seconds."</p> <P> <b>&#187 Scouting:</b> Quill has been in every Giants draft room since 1999. "My systems have been used in the draft room," he says, "and that draft room created Buster Posey, it created [Madison] Bumgarner, created [Matt] Cain 10 years ago. All of those were related to how we scouted and how the organization figured out how to pick those players, and we assisted in that process."</p> <P> Quill has worked with Evans and the rest of the baseball operations staff to incorporate various systems, including <a href="http://www.sportvision.com/baseball/pitchfx" target="_blank">Fieldf/x and Sportvision's Pitchf/x</a>, into the Giants' scouting process. Beyond picking players, the IT organization's data and video analyses extend to advanced scouting, like figuring out how to pitch the Tigers and who to trade for. </p> <P> <b>&#187 High-definition video:</b> It's hard to say whether AT&T Park was the first to go 100% HD. The Giants were the third MLB team to introduce an HD video scoreboard, Schlough says, after the Braves and the Marlins. But replacing all of the stadium's TVs with HD sets transformed the fan experience, he says. "It's that simple to me," he says. "Change out the TVs and the park feels new."</p> <P> MLB's Bowman also talks about another aspect of video: delivering live video captured in the ballpark, which the Giants have been doing for years. Bowman's goal is to capture video, edit it and deliver it to the 2 million MLB.com subscribers within 20 seconds. The league can embed an ad, deliver the video to mobile devices and, of course, generate revenue. And Schlough's AT&T Park infrastructure makes such delivery, even live look-ins to other games, possible.</p> <P> After the Giants swept the Tigers in the World Series, Schlough's team produced a 360-degree interactive video of the victory parade. With only two days to get the video done, it mounted three cameras: one on the windshield of Sandoval's vehicle, one on a golf cart and one on the front of the podium at the City Hall stage. The final product, which <a href="http://www.mlb.com/sf/fan_forum/parade.jsp" target="_blank">you can view here</a>, is stunning.</p> <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1354/354CS_team_585.jpg" width="585" height="390" alt="Schlough's IT team celebrates the Giants' World Series win" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /><br /><div class="storyImageCaption">Schlough's IT team celebrates the Giants' World Series win </div></center></p> <P><strong>The Integrator</strong></p> <P> When I met with Schlough in November, he and his team had already cooked up 50 IT projects for the off-season, and they had yet to meet with the team's various departments. Many of those projects, he says, are fairly boring: upgrading the Microsoft Exchange system, adding storage, shoring up disaster recovery. After they woke me up, I also heard about plans to deliver video and data to iPads, which players and managers carry around, and about delivering a better mobile experience overall (Quill's team takes an HTML5 approach).</p> <P> Schlough wouldn't go into details, but the Giants endured a cyber attack during the World Series, so he's also focused on enhancing the company's password and mobile device policies.</p> <P> The Giants are replacing the homegrown CRM system they've used for years, containing information on 700,000 customers, with Salesforce.com. They've also moved to a new ticketing platform, and these two systems (ticketing and CRM) will come together at a few points. The team is testing mobile point-of-sale systems in stores, for example.</p> <P> The goal is to integrate all customer data, from ticket purchasers to callers into the Giants' ShoreTel VoIP system, and to "track the value of every customer and accurately assess the likelihood of losing that customer, or how to retain that customer," Schlough says. The organization wants to cater to each customer based on past behavior and interaction.</p> <P> The Giants just hired a social media director, who reports to three people: the heads of communications, revenue and marketing. But he works most closely with Schlough. The Giants are building a physical social media hub in the ballpark. Schlough wants to install mobile device charging stations at the ballpark -- he tells me purposefully, because if I report it, he says, he'll be committed to following through.</p> <P> <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 10px; width:177px; float:right;"> <div style="border:1px solid #000000; padding:0;"> <div style="margin:0; padding:0px; font-size:1.4em; text-align:center; color:#ffffff; background-color:#000000;"> <strong>Tech Me Out To The Ballgame</strong> &#9;&#9;&#9;<img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1354/354CSballpark.jpg" width="175" height="181"> </div> <div style="margin:0; padding:10px;"> <span style="color:#cc0033; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;">334</span> Number of wireless access points at AT&T Park <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> &#9;&#9;&#9;<span style="color:#cc0033; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;">577</span> Number of HD TVs at the park <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> <span style="color:#cc0033; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;">805</span> GB of data that park spectators moved via Wi-Fi during Giants' two World Series home games <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> <span style="color:#cc0033; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;">870K</span> Total unique visitors to the park's Wi-Fi network at Giants games in 2012 season </div> </div> </div> <P> <strong>The Mensch</strong></p> <P> Schlough is well connected in sports IT circles. It's worth noting that the top IT execs of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, two fierce in-division rivals, agreed immediately to speak with me about the Giants' CIO.</p> <P> Steve Reese, VP of IT for the Padres, says Schlough's greatest impact has been helping baseball understand "that IT should be part of the business process." Schlough drives initiatives that aren't just disruptive to the way traditional organizations think, Reese says, but that also impact the bottom line.</p> <P> Reese goes so far as to call Schlough "the Bill Walsh of IT," referring to the former San Francisco 49ers head coach, who not only was an offensive football genius, but whose progeny is a who's who of former NFL coaches, including Mike Holmgren, George Seifert and Dennis Green. </p> <P> One of Schlough's proteges is John Winborn, whom he hired in 1999 as a desktop support specialist and later promoted to MIS director, before seeing him off to the Padres. Winborn is now the CIO of the Dallas Cowboys. "I would not be here without his mentoring," Winborn says of Schlough, who's one of the first people he calls with tough problems.</p> <P> Ralph Esquibel, the senior director of technology for the hated Los Angeles Dodgers, says the Giants "have without a doubt been innovators in the league," and that while baseball hasn't been on the top of the innovation curve, "Bill doesn't fit that mold. ... He has tended not to follow the herd ... and they've been rewarded."</p> <P> The Giants' technology prowess has rubbed off on many baseball franchises. Esquibel says the Dodgers are building the largest stadium wireless infrastructure in North America -- more than double what the Giants have. Esquibel has a big challenge on his hands, given that Dodger Stadium is the third-oldest stadium in Major League Baseball, but he's undaunted -- a reflection of the pace Schlough has set for everyone else.</p> <P><strong>The Stalker?</strong></p> <P> Bill Schlough is impeccable. His office, bursting with books and memorabilia, feels a little cluttered, but everything has its place, like his bulletin board with inspirational quotes. Several awards and plaques hang on the wall, but they're hidden. His notes and projects are organized in neat stacks. </p> <P> I had planned to ask him about mentors, but he beats me to the punch, listing among them his late mother-in-law, whom he describes as someone who labeled everything and sweated the small stuff. One of his heroes is Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee, and he's a disciple of Gary Rogers, the former CEO of Dreyer's Ice Cream, who's a big believer in empowering teams. Schlough invited eight of his mentors to join him at his banquet table in Los Angeles when he was named to the Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal's 2010 "Forty under 40."</p> <P> I confess that it's difficult to find flaws in the man. Either that or he's got something on just about every associate I talked with.</p> <P> How about this: He doesn't really like music, and doesn't listen to it. String him up!</p> <P> On the morning I met with Schlough, he was up early stalking Randy Petersen, founder of InsideFlyer and Milepoint and, according to Schlough, the god of frequent fliers. Schlough set a goal early in his career to fly 1 million miles, and after achieving that milestone got United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek (the boss of a friend) to sign Schlough's Up In The Air movie poster. And now he landed Petersen. One more signature to go: George Clooney's. (I'll take the bet that Schlough gets that one, too.)</p> <P> Schlough is an Ironman triathlete and dreams of qualifying for and competing in the annual world championship in Kona, Hawaii. Sports has always been a big part of his life. In college at Duke, he played club sports and won the Kevin Deford Gorter Memorial Award, given to the athlete who has contributed the most to sports at the university. Friend Christian Laettner, winner of a college basketball national championship and Olympic gold medal, doesn't have one of those. At EDS, Schlough worked on the soccer World Cup. </p> <P> But Bill Schlough, the technology executive and sports enthusiast, is best viewed as a leader who brings purpose and humility to that calling.</p> <P> Woolley, the Giants' director of strategic IT initiatives, says Schlough is "a CIO, a VP, but he's the type of guy who leads by example. He'll be right there when we have to clean out a closet." Woolley remembers when one of the Giants' sites in Arizona was down. Schlough volunteered immediately to get on a plane. "He'll do whatever it takes to help the team."</p> <P> Logan quipped about the Arizona trip: "He probably did it for the miles."</p> <P> Anne Cribbs, CEO of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, says Schlough is adept at building consensus, especially among those with big egos. Other associates and direct reports describe him with words like "progressive" and "structured." Before I left AT&T Park, he provided me with a breakdown of help desk trouble tickets and an example of the day-of-game support manual. I hadn't asked for such things, but he must have thought it would be helpful.</p> <P> Schlough is also someone who "pushes limits," says Pearl, who heads up sponsorships for the Giants. "He doesn't see roadblocks. He sees opportunity."</p> <P> Baseball, it is said, is a game of inches. A little white ball traveling 90 miles per hour, a skinny stick. Your arm, his eye. A stare, a blink, a swing. </p> <P> Bill Schlough can't miss.</p> <P> <center> <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 10px; width:560px;"> <div style="border:1px solid #000000; padding:0;"> <div style="margin:0; padding:4px; font-size:1.2em; text-align:center; color:#ffffff; background-color:#CC0000;"> <strong>Bill Schlough At A Glance</strong> </div> <div style="margin:0; padding:8px; text-align:left;"> <b>Education:</b> BS in mechanical engineering from Duke University. MBA from the Wharton School. <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> <b>Professional experience:</b> At EDS (1992-1996) performed a variety of functions for clients such as AMD, World Cup USA, General Motors and Kmart. At Booz Allen Hamilton (1998-1999) provided IT strategy and other consulting services to media/entertainment industry clients. Since 1999, senior VP and CIO of San Francisco Giants <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> <b>Other affiliations:</b> Board member of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, where he played a key role in getting San Francisco into contention to host the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Board member of Junior Achievement of Northern California (since 2003). Media center technical supervisor for 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. <div style="margin:10px 0 10px 0; padding 0; border-bottom:solid 1px #666666;"></div> <b>Recent books read:</b> Seth Godin's <i>The Dip</i> and Marshall Goldsmith's <i>What Got You Here Won't Get You There</i>. </div> </div> </div> </center> <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <center> <div id="printfeaturePDFpromo"><div class="printfeaturePDFCover"><a href="http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/83/9496/IT-Business-Strategy/informationweek-december-17-2012.html?k=axxe&cid=article_axxe_os"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1354/smallcov2.jpg" alt="InformationWeek: Dec. 17, 2012 Issue" title="InformationWeek: Dec. 17, 2012 Issue" /></a></div> <div class="printfeaturePDFCopy"><strong><a href="url_to_come">Download a free PDF of <nobr><em>InformationWeek</em> magazine</nobr></a><br /> (registration required)</strong></div> <div class="clearBoth"></div> </div> </center> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P>2012-12-06T11:12:00ZOracle President Mark Hurd talks strategy with <em>InformationWeek</em>'s Fritz Nelson and some CIO customers. Watch the interview and read our analysis.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/mark-hurd-interview-oracle-leading-or-fo/240143976?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsOracle is undergoing a transformation right before our very eyes. Where once it was a database company, it&#8217;s now an application company, a cloud company, a hardware company. At its most recent customer conference, Oracle Open World, the company made several announcements that showed it&#8217;s serious about wanting to own the entire technology stack, from the hardware to the database to the middleware to the applications. <P> I had a chance to sit down with Oracle President Mark Hurd and a handful of Oracle customers, including Dan Drawbaugh, CIO of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which is spending $100 million on medical analytics and hopes to further the use of genomic data to deliver on the promise of precision medicine. <P> We put all of this analysis into a documentary video of sorts (play it directly below). I've also embedded the full interview further below (at the end of this article), along with a similar video interview I conducted in September with <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/sap-ceo-tackles-tough-cloud-questions/240008908">SAP co-CEO Jim Hagemann-Snabe, whom I also wrote about earlier</a>. <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <P> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com <http://Informationweek.com/> run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <P> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <P> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <P> <object id="myExperience1972253037001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1972253037001" /> </object> <P> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <P> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> First, a few quick explanations and observations: <P> -- I asked Hurd to give Oracle grades in a few areas. These are the same areas I asked Hagemann-Snabe to grade SAP on. Hagemann-Snabe is much harder on his company than Hurd is on Oracle. Surprised? <P> -- I also wondered, given that many people still think of Oracle as a database company, what business Oracle considers itself in today. Hurd responded with the standard conference pitch, but I do think his answer is telling: Oracle plans to own every part of the technology stack, including the parts of the stack that run in the cloud. Does that ring true? <P> -- No matter how many ways I pressed Hurd, he gave his competitors very little credit. I even quibbled with his characterization of Salesforce.com as just a salesforce automation company, and he reiterated it, and then noted that Oracle is coming after Salesforce. Is Hurd just a fiercely competitive executive trying to fire up the company, just like his boss, CEO Larry Ellison, or is he sincere (and too dismissive) of Oracle&#8217;s competitors? <P> -- Oracle has turned Sun into the centerpiece of its engineered systems strategy. In essence, Oracle&#8217;s &#8220;Exa&#8221; line of products consists of a series of appliances that include compute, memory and storage to process enterprise-level application workloads, from analytics to transactions. This is still new territory for Oracle. I talked with Hurd about the Exa-systems in-memory architecture, and about whether this is just faster machinery or something truly transformational. <P> While Hurd spoke with precision about transformational cost savings and the technology shifts that make it possible (and they do sound impressive), he didn't talk about business transformation. Oracle isn&#8217;t alone in this regard; most technology companies still fail to relate their wares to strategic business outcomes. They become enamored of their technology because it does impressive things and can be fun to talk about. But CIOs have to speak a different language -- the language of customers and business results. I wrote about this disconnect at length in a piece that was meant as a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/memo-to-oracle-sap-listen-to-pgs-languag/240008750">memo to Oracle and SAP</a>, exhorting them to listen to the language of Procter & Gamble CIO Filippo Passerini. I wrote: <P> <em>Passerini doesn't talk about DRAM or flash memory. Sure, he thinks about competitors, but instead of relying on partial truths, he simply looks at the data. Passerini set off on a mission a few years . . . The plan: to digitize, visualize, and simulate--to distill down the company's massive data to what matters, to provide a single version of the truth to 60,000 employees in an effort he calls "information democratization," to help the company speed products to market (but more cost effectively). "We didn't need to run faster," Passerini said, "we needed to change the way we ran."</em> <P> You can also hear similar language from UPMC's Drawbaugh (an enormously successful CIO who also happens to be on InformationWeek's Editorial Advisory Board) in the video above: "We'll measure success not from the technology perspective, but from the care provided to the patient," Drawbaugh says. The results, he adds, will be measured by clinicians and ultimately by the patients. The goal: medical breakthroughs. <P> -- I pressed Hurd about the company's new direction, some of its competitive rhetoric, and even whether Oracle is in a position of leadership and innovation or just playing catchup and finding itself in the role of follower. For instance, during the past year or so Ellison has been dismissive of the cloud, in-memory computing (which he once called "whacky") and multitenancy, which he bashed (at Salesforce.com's expense) last year only to clarify his statement this year (it's OK in the database, but not so much at the application layer). Now Oracle's all-in on each. Crafty or disingenuous? <P> Here's the full interview with Hurd. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <P> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com <http://Informationweek.com/> run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <P> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <P> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <P> <object id="myExperience1969471487001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1969471487001" /> </object> <P> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <P> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> Here is my interview with SAP's Hagemann-Snabe. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <P> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com <http://Informationweek.com/> run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <P> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <P> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <P> <object id="myExperience1886761076001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1886761076001" /> </object> <P> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <P> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> <i>Predictive analysis is getting faster, more accurate and more accessible. Combined with big data, it's driving a new age of experiments. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/111912/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Advanced Analytics</a> issue of InformationWeek: Are project management offices a waste of money? (Free registration required.)</i> <P>2012-12-05T10:20:00ZMicrosoft exec Greg Sullivan takes a deep dive into Windows Phone 8 on the most recent episode of InformationWeek Valley View.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-challenger-keeps-fightin/240143825?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1998339358001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1998339358001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> Windows Phone 8 has been shipping for almost a month. Its bigger sibling, Windows 8, has probably received more ink and polarized Windows users more. No matter. Microsoft forges ahead, and it is clear that, for the first time in quite a while, Microsoft has made a series of risky moves with its operating systems, the most important piece of which is how they've begun to build a sort of co-dependency between the tablet, the desktop and mobile -- one that users can either reject, or buy into whole cloth. And not just users, but developers, too. <P> Now that Windows Phone 8 is getting battle-tested, we invited Greg Sullivan, Microsoft's senior product manager for Windows Phone, to talk with us on <em>InformationWeek's Valley View</em>, a live, monthly Web TV program. The video is embedded above. <P> We discussed (and saw) some of the latest hardware, from Nokia, HTC and Samsung (not yet available in the U.S.), and we quizzed Sullivan about the low price point carriers are offering Windows phones customers, as well as the fine line Microsoft has to walk with each of its hardware partners, especially given its cozy relationship with Nokia. We asked about Microsoft's somewhat frostier relationship with Sprint, which carried previous iterations of Windows Phone, but seems to be content to sit out Windows Phone 8 for now. <P> We talked about the relationship between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8, about some of the new features in the smartphone platform, including customizable live tiles, Rooms (which he demonstrated) and various enterprise features, like better security, including full device encryption, secure boot and private application distribution, which can be delivered using the Company Hub. <P> There's plenty to get excited about, but we also challenged Microsoft's lack of a social platform, some of the missing major phone apps (Microsoft just announced the addition of Pandora, and others are on the way), and some of the early <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/windows8/5-ways-microsoft-can-save-windows-8/240142960">criticism of Windows 8</a>. Sullivan was humble: "We're in a position of challenger in this space," he said about Windows Phone 8. About Windows 8, he added: "Change is often hard ... but the benefits are really profound." <P> It's clear Microsoft sees a computing world with Windows still at its heart. Will customers prove them right again with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8?2012-12-04T11:14:00ZEvernote Business lets an organization deploy and manage the Evernote application on behalf of employees, extending information discoverability and sharing company-wide.http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/evernote-for-business-end-of-butt-ugly-s/240143078?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsPhil Libin, CEO of Evernote, maker of the popular cloud-based personal productivity software for consumers, thinks enterprise software is "butt ugly." Evernote Business, announced Tuesday, offers a glimpse of what Libin thinks business users should expect: "beautiful experiences at work." <P> Evernote Business lets an organization deploy and manage the Evernote application on behalf of employees, extending information "discoverability" and sharing company-wide. The software includes Business Notebooks, collections of Evernote entries along topical lines, which can now be shared with co-workers; and the Business Library, which includes Business Notebooks and centralized administrative and company communications. <P> Evernote Business also adds Related Notes to the user interface. This feature digs into a company's Evernote trove, exposing information in a contextual way, depending on what the user is working on. <P> Administrators create the Business Library, which centralizes select information from all company users. Sharing and collaborating, Libin said, is much more natural now. "Every time you interact with Evernote, we take every opportunity to show you relevant things," he said. For example, when you search inside Evernote, it lists your notes and those shared with co-workers or stored in the Business Library. <P> <strong>[ Need help with your big data strategy? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/6-steps-to-manage-big-data/240143055?itc=edit_in_body_cross">6 Steps To Manage Big Data</a>. ]</strong> <P> But it also works when you're not searching. These Related Notes come from any Notebook the user has joined. With Related Notes, when you start creating a note, it searches for related content, not just in your own notes, but across the business. In an era of information overload, Libin said, people are too bothered to search. "We're trying to find the Goldilocks moment here" -- finding just the right information at just the right time, he said. <P> In many ways, these new capabilities start to unlock the potential of an application like Evernote. Although Libin isn't particularly fond of characterizing Evernote Business as a wiki platform for SMBs, it's starting to feel like one, at least for those who think of wikis as a way to share and discover knowledge. What makes Evernote enticing here is that it's more of a serendipitous discovery than a forced organization of information. <P> <center> <div class="centeredStoryImage"> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/news/2012/12/Fritz_1204_evernote.jpg" width="550" height="596" alt="Evernote" title="Evernote" /> <!-- <div class="storyImageTitle">storyImageTitle here, remove comment marks if running, remove whole line if none</div> --> <div class="storyImageCaption">Here's a sample end-user view in Evernote Business, which does not resemble many wiki tools.</div> </div> </center> <P> <P> With wiki software, Libin said, users must explicitly use them -- that is, launch them, login and enter data in a company-defined scheme -- when they want to share information, whereas with Evernote that sharing happens as part of the experience. For example, if you've created an Evernote entry about a recent business trip related to a project, when another user creates an Evernote entry about that project, those entries are automatically linked. "We stand with the end user, Libin said. "We don't make enterprise software. We make software for people. We take the interest of the end user first, including parts of your life." <P> Evernote Business, priced at $10 per user per month, includes a Web-based administrative application that can be called from the Evernote desktop app. Employees already using the free version of Evernote get upgraded to a more premium version automatically. Evernote has also beefed up its support for business customers, who now get to talk live with a support person. <P> Evernote Business with just the basic features will ship on all major platforms (Mac, iOS, Android, Windows desktop) starting Tuesday. The serendipitous discovery feature will initially be available only on the Mac, then on the iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows next year. <P> A Web Clipper capability (described below), which brings Evernote Notes to a Google search, will be available only on Google Chrome at launch, but Libin says it will soon be available on Firefox, followed by Safari and Internet Explorer.Evernote is a free, Web-based service that lets users create and organize free-form notes. It has applications for all major desktop and mobile platforms. The company says more than 45 million people use Evernote, to house and organize a variety of unstructured content. <P> Evernote also creates Web Clippers for all of the major desktop browsers, so users can send Web pages directly into Evernote with a mouse click. Each user gets an Evernote email address, so you can send emails directly into Evernote as well. Evernote supports documents, lets users create voice notes and even tags entries with location. <P> Evernote also has a set of APIs, which about 20,000 developers tap to extend its capabilities and integration. <a href="http://trunk.evernote.com/">Evernote's Trunk</a> service provides access to many of those applications, which include news feeds, Skitch files (Evernote acquired this screen capture and augmentation tool), expense filing apps, a food and recipe app (called Evernote Food) and much more. <P> Today's personal Evernote also has a premium version, which costs $5 per month or $45 per year. One key feature of the premium version is that it lets Evernote users share information with one another. For instance, I use Evernote to plan various content projects for our websites and video shows, and I share those project notebooks with other users so that we have the same information. In fact, we collaborate on that data -- like any shared Web-based document, it allows for co-authorship, but not in real time, as with Google Docs. <P> The <a href="http://evernote.com/premium">premium version of Evernote</a> also gets you 1 GB of content upload each month (vs 60 MB for the free version), and allows note sizes of up to 100 MB (vs 25 MB in the free version). It includes offline notebook access, indexed and searchable PDF files. <P> <strong>How Evernote Business Works</strong> <P> But here's an extremely important point, especially in this age of BYOD: If you've already got a personal account, that information stays personal even if your company starts using Evernote Business. That is, there's no opportunity for an organization running Evernote Business to get at your personal, unshared documents. As a user, you can still choose to share that information, but you can also create a Business Notebook. This is simply a designation that the notebook is related to work. You still must explicitly share them with co-workers (one by one), and then those co-workers can view and edit and search those Notebooks. Publishing the Business Notebook in the Business Library makes it available to the entire company. <P> <center> <div class="centeredStoryImage"> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/news/2012/12/Fritz_1204_eb-admin_manage_notebooks.jpg" width="550" height="366" alt="Manage Notebooks" title="Manage Notebooks" /> <!-- <div class="storyImageTitle">storyImageTitle here, remove comment marks if running, remove whole line if none</div> --> <div class="storyImageCaption">You decide which notebooks to share with colleagues.</div> </div> </center> <P> "We have a strong point of view on how the product is supposed to be used," Libin said. Evernote Business is for fast-growing companies, he added. "If they say you can't make personal notes on company time, then they shouldn't be using it," he said. <P> Back to the Related Notes feature, Evernote isn't just matching tags and keywords, Libin said. The Evernote data team has been working on machine learning for years. The system uses semantic analysis to understand what's in the notes. He gave an example where he was typing in "ABQ," which happens to be the Albuquerque airport code, which created an association with the TV show Breaking Bad, which is filmed and set in that city. This wasn't a literal text string match, he said, but a true association the system made. <P> This capability even works outside of Evernote. For those who use Evernote Clipper in a Web browser (available for now only in the Chrome browser), upon performing a Google search, the user is presented with a list of relevant Evernote entries on the right-hand side of the Google Results page, including those from team members. See the view below: <P> <center> <div class="centeredStoryImage"> <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/news/2012/12/Fritz_1204_evernote_google.jpg" width="550" height="312" alt="Google Evernote Search" title="Google Evernote Search" style="border:solid 2px #f1f1f1" /> <!-- <div class="storyImageTitle">storyImageTitle here, remove comment marks if running, remove whole line if none</div> --> <div class="storyImageCaption">Here's what you see when Google searches meet relevant Evernote material.</div> </div> </center> <P> <P> Down the road, Libin would like to extend Evernote's reach into other sources of enterprise information. SharePoint, for example, seems like a good target. Evernote will likely expect third-party developers to create some of those meaningful integrations, but given how entrenched SharePoint is, it might be wise for Evernote to do some of the early work here. After all, this is a case of Evernote crashing the enterprise party, even if it's bringing the coolest party favors. <P> Libin's prediction: "We're seeing the last couple of years of ugly business software." The technology people have gotten used to in their personal lives has set high expectations, he said, but when "they show up to work, everything's kind of crappy." <P> Business-class applications, he added, should offer better experiences. <P> That, he said, is where the money is.2012-11-30T13:00:00ZOnline payment darling Dwolla adds three new services as it tries to speed up merchant and consumer acceptance of its electronic transactions.http://www.informationweek.com/internet/ebusiness/dwolla-shakes-up-online-payments/240142982?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<a href="https://www.dwolla.com/">Dwolla</a>, a startup in the online payments markets, announced three new services Friday that it hopes will accelerate both merchant and consumer acceptance of Dwolla transactions, one of the big barriers that all payment startups -- and frankly, anyone offering anything other than credit cards or cash -- face; and that includes mobile wallets. <P> The three new services include a Dwolla guest checkout service, where customers can pay without having a Dwolla account and Dwolla Price, where merchants, thanks to the money they'll save on credit card fees, can choose to pass some of that saving back to customers as a way to entice them to use the Dwolla service -- in other words, the merchant and the customer save. It also introduced new point-of-sale system integrations (Dwolla's new partners include <a href="http://www.shopkeep.com/">ShopKeep</a> and <a href="http://change.io/">Change</a>) that let the merchant initiate a payment using a push notification to the customer's phone. <P> But maybe it makes sense to provide a little more context about Dwolla. As it happens, we just had Dwolla's CEO Ben Milne on <em>InformationWeek</em>'s Valley View, a monthly, live Web TV show on Wednesday (the video from that segment is embedded further below). <P> <strong>What is a Dwolla?</strong> <P> Little Dwolla, barely two years old, with all of about 40 employees in the technology hotbed of Iowa, has big intentions. It has created a modern payment network, and it aims to change how money moves and to upset what Dwolla CEO Ben Milne thinks is a costly, inefficient, fraud-riddled payments model. <P> Dwolla has largely been viewed as a PayPal competitor, or a mobile wallet, the de facto ways to facilitate peer-to-peer payments, or consumer-to-merchant payments. But Milne says that these systems are merely building on top of the existing credit card network, and thus simply add to the cost of maintaining those networks. Companies like PayPal, <a href="https://stripe.com/">Stripe</a> and Square may aggregate, or process transactions on behalf of all of the traditional components of the payment ecosystem, but each step still extracts its fee on every dollar the network settles, says Jordan Lampe, who heads up communications for Dwolla. <P> <center><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/1352/gc-landing.png" width="595" height="442" alt="Dwolla" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" style="margin-bottom:7px;" /><br /></center></p> <P> Instead, Dwolla is the network. The company's APIs expose the Dwolla infrastructure for banks, merchants and others to move money, arguably more cheaply and efficiently. <P> While the early focus in mobile and online commerce has been the typical customer-merchant transaction, Milne says the barrier to entry there is high. Not only must the customer want to use Dwolla, rather than a credit or debit card or cash, the merchant has to accept Dwolla as an option. Dwolla has built several easy ways for merchants to offer Dwolla payments through a kiosk, online, via e-commerce shopping cart extensions, through a merchant mobile app or even on some point-of-sale systems. But it is slow going. And to some extent, this is where the aforementioned three new services come into play. Even though the barriers to entry may be high, it doesn't mean Dwolla is giving up the fight; it's just arming itself for a long battle.In particular, the new Guest Checkout, which lets a consumer pay online with Dwolla, even without having a Dwolla account, is part of Dwolla's quest to create what the "ideal transaction." As Lampe puts it, Dwolla realized "we were our own paint point." Whether a consumer uses a credit card or a mobile or online payment application, there's still this notion of belonging to a membership club. Dwolla wants consumers to have the choice of not being in the club. <P> The new Dwolla Price feature is a way to reinforce the savings of using a new payments network that doesn't have multiple hands out, grabbing fractions of hard-earned dollars. <P> So far Dwolla has found more success in niche applications, like small businesses paying each other for ad-hoc needs or making wire transfers. It has also found success through partnerships, like with <a href="http://www.mfoundry.com/">mFoundry</a>, a mobile service provider with more than 800 bank clients who use (and provide customers) services like mobile deposit, loyalty programs and mobile bill pay ... and now a secure online payment network with lower fees and instant clearance (read: Dwolla). <P> Milne claims that Dwolla is more secure because it doesn't involve exchanging a relatively identifiable 16-digit number and expiration date. No personal or account data changes hands during a transaction. The user just has to be logged into the app, where they can select the merchant, and then pay. Simple. (Person to person payments can even be initiated using social applications like Facebook.) <P> There are merchants in all 50 states, Milne says, and those merchants are exposed to the Dwolla app (and thus, the consumer) using location. Dwolla transactions over $10 cost the merchant a 25-cent fee (<a href="https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees">PayPal's published, non-discounted merchant rate</a> is 2.9% plus a 30-cent transaction fee) <P> Dwolla's aspirations don't stop there. The company has created FiSync, which provides real-time transfers for financial institutions. In other words, Dwolla aims to replace the automated clearing house (ACH), a 40-year-old network Dwolla claims is also riddled with fraud and inefficiency. <P> Milne admits that Dwolla has a long way to go. FiSync launched with a single, Iowa-based credit union. But Milne also says the market (defined as the money moving through ACH) is $34 trillion annually. <P> The man thinks big. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <P> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <P> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <P> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <P> <object id="myExperience1998591213001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1998591213001" /> </object> <P> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <P> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> <em><strong>Fritz Nelson</strong> is the editorial director for InformationWeek and the Executive Producer of TechWebTV. Fritz writes about startups and established companies alike, but likes to exploit multiple forms of media into his writing.</em></p> <p> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <strong>Follow Fritz Nelson and <em>InformationWeek</em> on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+:</strong></p> <P> <p><ul> <li><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/graphics_library/misc/twitter_25.jpg" style="width: 25px; height: 25px;" alt="Twitter"> Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/fnelson"; target="_blank">@fnelson</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/informationweek"; target="_blank">@InformationWeek</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/iwpremium"; target="_blank">@IWpremium</a></li><li><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/graphics_library/misc/facebook_25.jpg" style="width: 25px; height: 25px;" alt="Facebook"> Facebook <a target="_blank" href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=606923988" target="_blank">Fritz Nelson Facebook Page</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/InformationWeek/10228569831">InformationWeek Facebook Page</a></li> <li><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/graphics_library/misc/youtube_25.jpg" style="width: 26px; height: 25px;" alt="YouTube"> YouTube <a title="http://www.youtube.com/techwebtv"; target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/techwebtv"; id="rbll">TechWebTV</a></li> <li><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/graphics_library/misc/linkedin_25.jpg" style="width: 25px; height: 26px;" alt="LinkedIn"> LinkedIn <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/fritz-nelson/2/76a/8b0" target="_blank">Fritz Nelson on LinkedIn</a> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=102562&sharedKey=0A7330708165" target="_blank">InformationWeek LinkedIn Group</a></li><li><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/graphics_library/misc/googleplus_25.jpg" style="width: 25px; height: 26px;" alt="Google plus"> Google+ <a href="https://plus.google.com/103216758509071451607/posts" target="_blank">Fritz Nelson on Google+</a></li> </ul></p> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE -->2012-11-29T11:51:00ZOur most recent episode of Valley View took a deeper look at Windows Phone 8 with Microsoft's Greg Sullivan and checked out some intriguing startups. See all the highlights.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/valley-view-windows-phone-8-up-close/240142887?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <P> <div style="display:none"> <P> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. <P> </div> <P> <!-- <P> By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C <P> found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. <P> --> <P> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <P> <object id="myExperience1995718393001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <P> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <P> <param name="width" value="480" /> <P> <param name="height" value="270" /> <P> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <P> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <P> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <P> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <P> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <P> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1995718393001" /> <P> </object> <P> <!-- <P> This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon <P> as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after <P> the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. <P> --> <P> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <P> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> This week's Valley View, our live, monthly Web TV show, featured established players like Microsoft, Texas Instruments and SugarSync, plus newer companies like Dwolla, Exec, ClearStory and Kaggle. We heard about Windows Phone 8, e-payments, big data, the cloud and much more. <P> We featured a deeper look at Windows Phone 8, including some of the new devices that run it (from Nokia, HTC and Samsung), and talked about the work that Microsoft still has to do to effectively compete with Apple and Google. Microsoft Windows Phone exec Greg Sullivan acknowledged that his company was clearly the challenger in the mobile space right now. Sullivan showed us a few of the key features of the new mobile OS, including what's new for the enterprise. <P> We also talked about the future of money with Ben Milne, CEO of Dwolla, a company that not only competes with the likes of PayPal, but also aims to change the way money moves, to make electronic payments more secure, more efficient and less expensive. <P> You can watch all of that and more in the video embedded above. The episode also includes our fast-paced Elevator Pitch segment, where three hot companies (SugarSync, Kaggle and ClearStory) pitch us, our audience and our judges on what's great about their technologies. <P> <i>Upgrading isn't the easy decision that Win 7 was. We take a close look at Server 2012, changes to mobility and security, and more in the new <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/092412/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Here Comes Windows 8</a> issue of InformationWeek. Also in this issue: Why you should have the difficult conversations about the value of OS and PC upgrades before discussing Windows 8. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-11-26T11:02:00ZWatch November 28 at 11 PT as our live Web TV show brings you up to speed on how Dwolla, Exec, SugarSync and others are upsetting the status quo.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/next-valley-view-techs-feisty-upstarts/240142558?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsIn creating Valley View, our live monthly Web TV show, we set out to cover a wide variety of subjects. You'll find our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">November 28 Valley View program (11 am PT)</a> to be the epitome of that notion. We've got a little bit of everything. <P> In our last Valley View (in October), we sat down with big, established players like Oracle and Cisco, and we heard how changing industry trends and small upstarts were creating market transitions that required these industry leaders to react. For November's show, we're going to kick off with the upstart side of the conversation, focusing on a couple of new companies threatening to unravel established businesses, or established ways of thinking. <P> In our opening segment, we'll talk with Ben Milne, CEO of <a href="https://www.dwolla.com/">Dwolla</a>, the new darling in the online payment space. Dwolla's success would threaten not only PayPal, but also credit cards and payment networks, and even the ACH (Automated Clearing House), the massive U.S. network that processes financial transactions. <P> <a href="https://iamexec.com/">Exec</a> is a relatively new concierge service. You can hire Exec's employees by the hour to perform a variety of useful tasks, such as running errands. We'll put Exec to the test to see how far we can push the service, and then we'll talk to Exec CEO Justin Kan. <P> But we won't just focus on the new; we'll also talk to a couple of established outfits, like Microsoft and Texas Instruments. First, we'll have Microsoft's Greg Sullivan, senior product manager, Windows Phone division. Microsoft just recently started shipping <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/windowsphone/">Windows Phone 8</a>. We'll have a chance to ask Sullivan how it's going, both on the customer side and on the developer side. <P> <a href="http://www.ti.com/">Texas Instruments</a> has been a stalwart in the semiconductor industry for more than 80 years, but that industry has been dominated largely by men. Our own <a href="http://igen.eetimes.com/profile/SylvieB">Sylvie Barak, reporter for EETimes</a>, sat down with Dipti Vachani, VP and GM of Texas Instrument's Single Core Processing Unit to talk about being a woman executive in the semiconductor industry. <P> As always, we'll feature some new technology in our Elevator Pitch segment, where we ask companies to pitch us (as if we were in an elevator) and then face our judging committee. For this month's segment, we've got a couple of big data players: <a href="http://www.kaggle.com/host/whatkaggleis">Kaggle</a> and <a href="http://clearstorydata.com/">Clearstory</a>, each with a unique approach to this incredibly interesting market. For instance, Kaggle essentially crowdsources the universe of data scientists to help companies solve big data problems. Clearstory tries to make big data more accessible for ordinary business people. <P> Finally, <a href="https://www.sugarsync.com/">SugarSync</a>, one of the early players in the personal cloud movement, will talk about how it is evolving to take on fierce competitive forces. The company just announced the <a href="http://www.sugarsync.com/blog/category/product-news/">beta version of SugarSync 2.0</a>, which has been completely redesigned to make it easier to use. As a long-time SugarSync user, I'm extremely interested to hear more about what the company has done. <P> Please join us Wednesday, November 28 at 11 am. You can watch live <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">here</a>. And you can register for the show <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/valleyview">here</a> -- this lets you get a calendar reminder and enters you into a drawing for an iPad Mini, which we'll give away at the end of the show. <P> <i>Upgrading isn't the easy decision that Win 7 was. We take a close look at Server 2012, changes to mobility and security, and more in the new <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/092412/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Here Comes Windows 8</a> issue of InformationWeek. Also in this issue: Why you should have the difficult conversations about the value of OS and PC upgrades before discussing Windows 8. (Free registration required.)</i>2012-10-31T11:25:00Z<em>CRN</em>'s investigation into how tech companies used Recovery Act funds yielded some unsettling results. Watch this Valley View video for the details.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240012571?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsOur sister publication, <em>CRN</em>, set out to discover how technology companies benefited from the American Recovery and Re-investment Act (stimulus) funds, and found some surprising results -- specifically, that some of the top technology companies were awarded stimulus money, and yet also laid off thousands of employees. <a href="http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/240008579/five-tech-companies-that-milked-the-stimulus.htm"><em>CRN</em>'s exclusive report on how these companies milked the stimulus</a> drove us to include news editor Steve Burke on our most recent episode of Valley View, our live monthly Web TV show. We talked about how each of the top companies benefited and what conclusions should be taken from the report. You can watch the discussion in the video below. <P> <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1924866080001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1924866080001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player -->2012-10-31T10:10:00ZIn this Valley View interview, CEO John Chambers discusses Cisco's long record of wins, and its biggest challenge yet: the move to software-defined networks.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240012569?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsOther than some missteps in consumer technology, Cisco has consistently surpassed expectations at nearly every turn, or as Cisco CEO John Chambers likes to say, "market transitions." As Chambers put it during a recent interview with CRN editor-at-large Chad Berndtson, Cisco has not only been a predictable enterprise IT partner, it has been a successfully predictable partner. <P> He's right, of course, and that makes it incredibly tough to bet against more success for Cisco, despite what could be the company's biggest challenge yet: the move to software-defined networks, especially when coupled with cheaper, merchant-based silicon technology solutions. <P> CRN's Berndtson, who sat down for a <a href="http://www.crn.com/news/networking/240009498/chambers-on-the-record-how-cisco-plans-to-become-the-no-1-it-company.htm">full-length interview with Chambers</a>, also got the CEO to give us some video time for our most recent episode of Valley View, our monthly live Web TV show. You can watch the interview in the video embedded below. Chambers bragged about beating the likes of Juniper, HP and Arista, and about how it is getting a bead on Huawei. He talked about EMC, whom he deems Cisco's "best partner," but also the challenge raised by VMWare's acquisition of Nicira (one of those software-defined network companies). <P> Chambers also said that the Internet of Things trend will be Cisco's next big opportunity. <P> Tune into our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">November 28 Valley View</a>, which begins at 11 a.m. PT. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1924948035001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1924948035001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player -->2012-10-31T09:06:00ZStartup offers suite of mobile apps for employees, including productivity tools and more. Watch our Valley View elevator pitch session with Taptera CEO.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240012496?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsMost enterprises are all-in on mobile these days, and Taptera is creating a suite of useable (and in its words, "beautiful") applications for employees, ranging from productivity tools to conference room schedulers to tools offering customer interaction capabilities. <P> Taptera will ship seven such applications this year (many are already available) and has 30 on the docket for the short term. <P> You can hear more from Taptera in the elevator pitch session video embedded below. Taptera CEO and co-founder Chris O'Connor also showcased an app called Sophia, which brings Apple Siri-like functionality to CRM. <P> Taptera's elevator pitch was part of our October 24 Valley View live Web show. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1925152029001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1925152029001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> You can watch more of these by tuning into our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">November 28 Valley View</a>, which begins at 11 a.m., PT.2012-10-30T09:06:00ZHearsay Social helps businesses plug into social media while still controlling compliance and governance. Learn more in our Valley View video.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/240012473?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsThe long list of companies in the social enterprise space is getting tough to sort out. Here's how Hearsay Social's CTO Steve Garrity says his company is different: "You can be expressive without getting into trouble." That is, Hearsay Social promises to let an enterprise plug into the social scene, but without getting into any trouble (i.e., compliance and governance issues), by aligning employees with business goals and deriving insights from social data. <P> You can hear more from Hearsay Social in the elevator pitch session video embedded below, from our October 24 Valley View live Web show. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1925126801001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1925126801001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> You can watch more of these by tuning into our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">November 28 Valley View</a>, which begins at 11 a.m., PT.2012-10-29T13:38:00ZCompany lets business users analyze big data with no need for data scientists, says CEO. Watch our Valley View video.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240012465?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors<p>The "data scientist" role is in vogue, but according to Dean Stoecker, CEO of big data analytics company Alteryx, there "aren't enough data scientists to save the world." His company is putting analytics into the hands of "mere mortals," Stoecker said. Alteryx, he added, is for the "data artisan."</p><p>Alteryx just began shipping version 8.0 of its analytics platform, which promises to let business users create and share powerful analytics applications, using data from standard databases, or from data sources such as Salesforce.com, Sharepoint, NoSQL and Hadoop. </p><p>You can hear more from Stoecker in the elevator pitch session video below. That elevator pitch was part of our Oct. 24 Valley View. You can watch more of these by tuning in to our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">Nov. 28 Valley View</a>, which begins at 11 a.m., Pacific Time.</p> <p><!-- Start of Brightcove Player --><div style="display:none">Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location.</div><!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script><object id="myExperience1925046278001" class="BrightcoveExperience"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="width" value="480" /><param name="height" value="270" /><param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /><param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /><param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1925046278001" /></object><!--This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --><script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script><!-- End of Brightcove Player --></p> <i>At this hands-on Wall Street & Technology Virtual Event, <a href="https://www.techwebonlineevents.com/ars/eventregistration.do?mode=eventreg&F=1005051&K=7">Big Data On Wall Street</a>, experts and solution providers will offer detailed insight into how risk management, financial reporting, trading analytics and financial modeling, along with a host of other opportunities, can all benefit from applying big data techniques and technologies to business processes. When you register, you will gain access to live and on-demand webcast presentations, as well as virtual booths packed with free resources. It happens Nov. 1. </i>2012-10-26T10:31:00ZThe sparks fly in October's episode of Valley View, our monthly live Web TV program. Watch the full show here.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240010566?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsCisco CEO John Chambers was his usual, cautiously confident self, and Oracle president Mark Hurd exuded confidence that Oracle's new strategy has finally come together, and CRN's news editor Steve Burke was exasperated by the waste behind the American Recovery and Re-investment Act money that went to technology companies (some of whom will thoroughly surprise you). <P> And that was just for starters on <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">October's Valley View</a>, our monthly live Web TV program, which aired October 24. We also heard three compelling, rapid-fire elevator pitches from some up-and-coming companies in the smoking hot markets of mobile (Taptera), big data (Alteryx) and the social enterprise (Hearsay Social). <P> In other words, we had quite a show. Lots of emotion and controversy. But if you missed it, fear not. You can watch the entire episode in the video embedded below. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1922575605001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1922575605001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> Over the next several days we'll be publishing the individual segments from the show. And, if you want to watch live next time, you can tune into our November 28 show. That starts at 11 a.m. Pacific Time on our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">Valley View page</a>. You can also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/valleyviewregister">register for Valley View</a> and you'll be entered into a drawing for some nice prizes. On the October show, we gave away an Apple TV and an Amazon Kindle Fire HD.2012-10-22T16:39:00ZTune into the next episode of our live Web TV program, Valley View, October 24 at 11 am PT. We'll go one on one with Cisco's Chambers and Oracle's Hurd, plus explore where the Obama administration's stimulus money ended up.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240009549?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsIt's almost time for our live Web TV program, Valley View, October 24 at 11 am PT, and we've got an amazing show planned. You can tune into <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">Valley View here</a>, and if you'd like to add this to your calendar and be eligible to win a brand-new Amazon Kindle Fire HD tablet or an Apple TV, <a href="http://reg.techweb.com/forms/ValleyView?kcode=1024SRP">register for Valley View here</a>. <P> Here's our lineup: Cisco CEO John Chambers, with CRN's Chad Berndtson; Oracle's Mark Hurd (and some customers) with yours truly; an exploration of the technology industry's spending (and results) of the Obama administration's stimulus money with CRN's Steve Burke; and our Elevator Pitch segment, featuring <a href="http://www.alteryx.com/">Alteryx</a> (cloud-based, big data analytics), <a href="http://www.taptera.com/">Taptera</a> (enterprise mobile apps,) and <a href="http://hearsaysocial.com/">Hearsay Social</a> (social enterprise tools.) <P> We'll be asking Chambers about some of the more recent threats to his business--a question that he thinks about quite a bit. We'll also ask him about Cisco's "premium" pricing, which has come up as a customer concern in our most <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/cisco-customers-discuss-its-future/240007999">recent survey with IT leaders on Cisco</a>. <P> Meanwhile, Oracle is in a dog fight--which some would say is the best kind of fight for Oracle to win. That fight is not only with traditional rival SAP, but also a host of software-as-a-service companies. In fact, these days, who doesn't Oracle battle? To that end, Oracle's Open World Conference featured a few challenges thrown down by CEO Larry Ellison, mostly in the cloud. Ultimately, though, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/oracles-great-stack-attack/240008631">Oracle wants to dominate the entire technology stack</a>. We'll ask Hurd, and a couple of his customers about that, and we'll discuss plenty of Oracle's competitive challenges. <P> I can't wait to talk with Steve Burke, a long-time colleague at our sister publication <em><a href="http://www.crn.com/">CRN</em>, the leading site for VARs and technology integrators</a>. Steve has embarked on an investigation of technology companies and individuals that benefited from stimulus money and asked, simply: Where did the money go? Did it create the jobs the Obama administration promised? What he uncovered was pretty interesting--you can only find the full articles on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crn-tech-news/id541684380?mt=8">CRN's Tech News App</a>, which is available in the Apple Store for $1.99. Short summaries online include <a href="http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/240008579/five-tech-companies-that-milked-the-stimulus.htm">Top Five Tech Companies That Milked The Stimulus</a> and <a href="http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/240008637/five-1-percenters-that-have-milked-the-stimulus.htm">Top Five One Percenters That Milked The Stimulus</a>. And there's more. <P> This episode of Valley View will surely get your dander up, one way or another. <P> <i>Download the new issue of <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/101512mr/?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Must Reads</a>, a compendium of our best recent coverage on IT-as-a-service. It includes articles on cloud computing myths, how to build an IT service catalog, security problems, and more. (Free registration required.)</i> <P>2012-10-20T08:40:00ZDon't let anyone tell you IT isn't funny. Check out these videos from Valley View and InformationWeek 500.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240009328?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsSometimes we take ourselves too seriously in this profession ... after all, it's technology. It's not at all funny. Or is it? Maybe not, but the people and the companies are pretty funny, or at least deserve to be made fun of. Every year at the <em>InformationWeek 500</em>, we kick off the awards ceremony with a fun look back at the year in technology news. <P> Also, each month, we do the same to kick off our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">Valley View live Web TV program</a> (the next show is October 24 at 11 a.m. PT). The two video clips below are from the <em>InformationWeek 500</em> event, and from the September 26 <em>Valley View</em>. <P> Remember folks: we kid because we love (or so I tell myself). <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1897204279001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1897204279001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1886568141001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1886568141001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player -->2012-10-19T09:06:00ZStartup offers video-based solutions for employee training, communication, and more. Watch our Valley View elevator pitch session with Kontiki's CEO.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240009329?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsWhether video's dominance on the Internet also holds true on corporate networks is debatable, but it is certainly becoming a more common way to communicate with and train employees. Kontiki has been quietly garnering the enterprise video distribution business of companies like GM, Nestle, Coca Cola, and Wells Fargo, to name just a few. <P> Actually, Kontiki is more than just video. Think of it as enterprise content delivery--like a CDN, but it moves content inside the firewall. And it's doing this for some pretty large enterprise organizations. At Nestle, for example, Kontiki manages some 2,000 videos on the company's Intranet. <P> In our Valley View Elevator Pitch session, Kontiki CEO Dan Vetras talks about how the company's secret sauce is compelling IT shops to consider an approach that Vetras says obviates the need for expensive WAN acceleration hardware. (The system takes video into a remote branch one time and distributes it peer-to-peer throughout the network.) <P> Be sure to tune into our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">October <em>Valley View</em></a>, on October 24 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time, where we'll have more startups--including Taptera (enterprise mobile applications), Alteryx (big data), and Hearsay Social (social enterprise). We'll also feature conversations with Cisco CEO John Chambers and Oracle president Mark Hurd. You can also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/valleyviewregister">register for the October Valley View show</a> and have a chance to win some excellent gear. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1886330144001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1886330144001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player -->2012-10-18T10:27:00ZMuch-watched startup takes an offensive, not defensive, approach to enterprise security. Learn more in this video from Valley View.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240009288?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsCrowdstrike is one of the most talked-about new companies emerging in the information security space. It's in stealth mode in the most public of ways, if that makes any sense. But it is about to launch, and it should be interesting because Crowdstrike offers something very different: a service that helps organizations identify and thwart (and maybe even pursue) adversaries. <P> CEO George Kurtz, who co-founded Foundstone, and was then CTO of McAfee, said that Crowdstrike is a big data company that identifies and prevents damage from targeted attacks (a.k.a., APTs, or advanced persistent threats). Most often, he says, organizations don't have a malware problem, they have an adversary problem. <P> Crowdstrike will offer intelligence as a service, high-end services, including the use of deception and disruption toward the adversary (an offensive strike), and predictive analytics that link who's doing damage, what tools they're using and what their intended purpose is. <P> Kurtz joined <em>InformationWeek's Valley View</em> recently and gave an Elevator Pitch on Crowdstrike. You can watch it in the video embedded below. <P> Make sure to tune into our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">October <em>Valley View</em></a>, on October 24 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time, where we'll have more startups--including Taptera (enterprise mobile applications), Alteryx (big data), and Hearsay Social (social enterprise). We'll also feature conversations with Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Oracle president Mark Hurd. You can also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/valleyviewregister">register for the October Valley View show</a> and have a chance to win some excellent gear. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1886387622001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1886387622001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player -->2012-10-17T10:45:00ZFusion-io exec describes how the company's hardware and software enable data center managers to build faster, more cost-effective storage arrays, in the latest episode of Valley View.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240009211?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsGary Orenstein, Fusion-io's senior VP of product, says his company's purpose is to make the world's data go faster. Data is everywhere--the cloud, the Web--but it's on disk, which is too slow for many of today's demanding data needs. With Fusion-io's IoDrives and Ion Data Accelerator software, data center managers can build solid-state, flash-based storage arrays across physical and virtual servers more cost effectively. And it does so with a smaller footprint, which is crucial in today's data center. <P> Orenstein says Fusion-io is doing lots of work in organizations using Oracle, Microsoft, and MySQL databases, and is also starting to see some big data deployments using MongoDB. <P> Orenstein boiled all of this down into his 3-minute elevator pitch on <em>Valley View</em> recently and came out shining in front of our judges. You can watch it all in the video embedded below. <P> Make sure to tune into our <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">October <em>Valley View</em></a>, on October 24 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time, where we'll have more startups--including Taptera (enterprise mobile applications), Alteryx (big data), and Hearsay Social (social enterprise). We'll also feature conversations with Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Oracle president Mark Hurd. You can also <a href="http://reg.techweb.com/forms/ValleyView">register for the October Valley View show</a> and have a chance to win some excellent gear. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1886363370001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1886363370001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player -->2012-10-17T09:06:00ZCIOs are torn between wanting to back a company that represents the future and needing predictability. Google execs must now ask CIOs the right questions--and be prepared for stubborn answers.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240009159?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsGoogle thinks that it could earn $10 billion in enterprise revenue some day. Michael Lock, Google Enterprise VP, speaking at the <em>InformationWeek 500</em> conference along with Clay Bavor, Google Enterprise head of product management, said that there are 5 million businesses on Google Apps, and 40 million users. (You can watch the entire discussion in the video embedded at the end of this article.) <P> But Lock and Bavor also said that almost every part of Google's enterprise business will simply follow the company's success in the consumer space. The enterprise business, Lock said, will "stand on the shoulders of the giants at Google." The strategy, he said, is to "bring the consumer goodness to the enterprise." <P> For CIOs, this must be a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, Google represents the future. Its products--from Gmail to real-time collaborative apps to Google Drive to Android--are the embodiment of the consumerization of IT era. CIOs dismiss Google at their own peril. <P> The typical customer Google wins is sometimes simply making a statement about how that company aims to do things differently, Lock asserted. It signifies an internal cultural shift, Bavor added. "When I talk to CIOs about products, they ask about Google Glass, about self-driving cars . . . there is almost this philosophical approach: I want to transform the way my employees think, to be more collaborative." <P> In many environments, Google comes to stand for something that's new and fresh and different. <P> On the other hand, Google has to come to terms with an enterprise mentality that demands a strategy, a roadmap, a commitment to some measure of predictability. Lock admitted that changing the perception of Google as "the search company" is hard. I pointed out the perception among many CIOs that the enterprise seems often to be an afterthought at Google, challenging Lock and Bavor to name a Google product that started out life as enterprise only. Bavor named <a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/03/google-apps-vault-brings-information.html">Google Vault</a>, an archival and e-discovery system. <P> <!-- KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <!-- GLOBAL CIO GLOBE --> <div style="margin:0; padding:0 0 10px 15px; width:244px; float:right;"> <div style="margin:0; border-top:1px solid black; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:6px;"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/"><img src="http://twimgs.com/infoweek/1217/217ID_GlobalCIO_75.jpg" width="75" height="75" border="0" align="right" alt="Global CIO" style="margin:0 0 6px 6px;"></a> <div style="margin:0 0 6px 0; font-size:1.3em; font-weight:bold; color:#113e53;">Global CIOs: A Site Just For You</div> <span style="font-size:.9em; font-weight:bold;">Visit <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/">InformationWeek's Global CIO</a> -- our online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy.</span> </div> </div> <!-- /GLOBAL CIO GLOBE --> <!-- /KINDLE EXCLUDE --> <P> No, I hadn't really heard of it either. But to be fair, there is also Google App Engine and Google Compute Engine. Bavor also said that when Google first began working on Google +, the company's management team saw Hangouts (video chat) as an enterprise product. <P> Regardless, Lock made it very clear that Google is "not sitting around thinking: let's go disrupt this marketplace." Specifically, he mentioned customer requests that Google tackle CRM, and Lock thinks Salesforce.com is doing just fine. He said Google Chairman Eric Schmidt told him: "Be careful not to become what you're here to replace." <P> This is precisely where Google has its challenge. For some organizations, this consumer-first focus has come through too loudly, too clearly. Many CIOs complain about Google's support, for example. I asked Lock and Bavor what grade they would give themselves for enterprise support. They didn't, but Lock said that Google's enterprise customer satisfaction scores were above the industry average. Most CIOs I talk to have found Google's enterprise support wanting. <P> Some CIOs are willing to live with it, maybe even embrace it. Others run away just as fast. There seems to be no in between. <P> Two of CIOs addressed both sides of this Google-in-the-enterprise dichotomy on these pages. John McGreavy said, simply: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/google-enterprise-im-not-impressed/240008021">Google Enterprise, I'm Not Impressed</a>, whereas Jonathan Feldman wrote: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/why-mbas-hate-google-and-you-shouldnt/240007245">Why MBAs Hate Google--And You Shouldn't</a>. The title was a reference to Lock's quip: "A lot of MBAs at Google are frustrated because they want the five-year roadmap, and we're just not that way." To which an audience member with an MBA said: "When I'm going to commit hundreds of millions of dollars, I really do want the five-year roadmap." <P> Many readers--other IT decision makers--responded to the columns these two CIOs wrote. Those responses were typical of the divide Google elicits: <P> -- <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/google-enterprise-im-not-impressed/article_240008021/permalink/comment/670310890">Joe Tierney wrote</a>: "Workers shouldn't be marginalized. Why don't you poll them and see if they like Outlook or Gmail better? You might be surprised." In other words, don't dismiss the power of your user base. <P> -- But <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/google-enterprise-im-not-impressed/article_240008021/permalink/comment/671301054">MrCynical responded (to a few responders) with vigor</a>: "Your responses don't come with an enterprise mindset--and that's a shame. There is much more to getting the latest 'innovation' the end-users [want] than a 3 to 6 month roll out. How about support? How about maintenance? How about upgrades? Oh wait, we don't have to care because Google says so. Google is SaaS? Upgrades are seamless and issue free to the end user? Right. Again, Google says so &#8230; Having a 3-5 year roadmap is essential. Having our business units and users work with us is essential. While I can't predict what the world is going to look like in that time, I can dang well provide a direction. Road maps are not written in stone, they are a guide for the entire organization to reach the goals of the business. For the Jonathan Feldmans of the world who think that we should just take every latest fad and run with it to prove we are 'agile IT', good luck to you." <P> -- And then there was <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/google-enterprise-im-not-impressed/article_240008021/permalink/comment/677352579">Dianejhuff</a>: "As a company that moved to Google to replace our customer portal collaboration (email, shared media, meeting spaces) after two years, we are happily returning to an Exchange infrastructure. Although Google truly believes that it is enterprise worthy, I can assure you, it is not. Google lacks the collaborative and support infrastructure to maintain a large enterprise group. They worked well with a small group of users and, as a consumer product, they are second to none. But for our customers, their 'collaboration' features were poor, their support was weak, and their shared spaces rolled to three different names and products in the three years we were customers. I love my Android phone, but I'll stick with Microsoft for my enterprise services." <P> If Google believes its advantaged by leveraging the development work it does in the consumer space, then it should continue to pursue that strategy, and while doing so its executives should embed themselves with enterprise IT: Make it their mission to ask the right questions--the ones they need to hear, not the ones they want to hear, and to be prepared for the stubborn answers CIOs will provide. And then do what Google does best: adapt. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <P> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <P> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <P> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <P> <object id="myExperience1875822935001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1875822935001" /> </object> <P> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <P> <!-- End of Brightcove Player -->2012-10-12T09:06:00ZStartup helps companies use public social media tools to connect with customers, but with an added level of control. Check out our video coverage from InformationWeek 500 and learn more on our upcoming episode of Valley View.http://www.informationweek.com/news/240008904?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsThe social enterprise space is littered with exciting companies. Stop me if you've heard this pitch: "We're like Facebook, but for the enterprise." So it's often hard to sort out the differences between all of these companies, and which is in the best position to help your organization reach its goals--which, by the way, are just as complex (internal collaboration, customer relationships, sentiment analytics and so on). <P> We've been inviting many of these companies to come pitch us--on stage, with video demonstrations and more. <a href="http://hearsaysocial.com/">Hearsay Social</a> is firmly rooted in enterprise social, and it is also firmly rooted in helping sales organizations and other business entities engage with customers using traditional, public-facing social media, with the typical controls you'd expect in the enterprise. Indeed, Hearsay counts many household names, including some financial services companies, as customers. <P> Clara Shih, the company's co-founder and CEO, wrote the first Facebook business app (Faceconnector), and then wrote a well-travelled book called "The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Market, Sell, and Innovate," before starting Hearsay, along with co-founder and CTO Steve Garrity. <P> Garrity recently participated in our startup session at the InformationWeek 500 conference. You can watch it in the video embedded below. But you can also tune into <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/specialreport/valleyview">Valley View</a>, our online live web TV show October 24 at 11 am PT and watch him give an even faster-paced elevator pitch, live! (We'll have more startups--including Taptera (enterprise mobile applications) and Alteryx (big data), and we'll feature conversations with Cisco CEO John Chambers and Oracle President Mark Hurd. We'll also feature a special report from CRN, exploring the <a href="http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/240008579/five-tech-companies-that-milked-the-stimulus.htm">tech companies that milked U.S. stimulus dollars</a>. You can also <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/valleyviewregister">register for the October Valley View show</a> and have a chance to win some excellent gear. <P> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> Informationweek.com run-of-site player, used to publish article embedded videos via DCT. The same ads will be served on this player regardless of embed location. </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience1886761085001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="480" /> <param name="height" value="270" /> <param name="playerID" value="1223625539001" /> <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXnehVitUBmX0u2QYfPEVvZG_k" /> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="isUI" value="true" /> <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1886761085001" /> </object> <!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line. --> <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> <P> <i>InformationWeek is conducting a survey on the adoption of application performance management tools in the enterprise, how they are being used, and IT's level of satisfaction with these products. Take our <a href="http://informationweek.2013APM.sgizmo.com/s3/">InformationWeek 2013 Application Performance Management Survey</a> now. Survey ends Oct. 12. </i> <P> <P>